‘If it was open, I would go’: Irish citizen seeks help for his children trapped in Gaza

As Gaza braced itself for reprisals to Hamas-led incursions in southern Israel last weekend, Khalid El-Astal’s one-year-old daughter took her first steps.

Moving unsteadily, Sara El-Astal walked across the tiles of her grandparent’s home in Tel el Hawa, Gaza City, with the threat of Israeli airstrikes looming.

More than 1,000km away in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mr El-Astal (30), an Irish citizen, watched his daughter starting to walk through a phone screen.

With prospects limited in Gaza, he had moved to Riyadh earlier this year for work, while his young family – children Sara and Ali (4), and wife Ashwak Jendia (30) – remained at home in the blockaded enclave.

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“If it was open, I would go to Gaza,” he said. “I [would] not be afraid to die. It’s good to die with your family.”

Mr El-Astal was born in Belfast and spent much of his childhood in the city, where his Gazan father, a professor of physics, worked. His family – including his three brothers, all Irish citizens – moved back to Gaza when he was eight years old.

Since his marriage five years ago, Mr El-Astal, who has a masters degree in theoretical physics, has held aspirations of moving his family to Ireland.

With the outbreak of war, and his inability to return to Gaza due to restrictions on entering the enclave, those aspirations have taken on a frantic urgency.

“I want to help them to get out of Gaza, to a safe place, and then I can join [them],” he said.

Mr El-Astal has contacted the Irish Consulate in Riyadh, asking for assistance in reuniting him with his young family. Details of his family’s situation have been communicated to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin and the Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Neither of Mr El-Astal’s children currently hold Irish passports. His wife, born in Germany, is not presently eligible for Irish citizenship.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that it was aware of Mr El-Astal’s case, and is providing consular assistance. “As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the detail of individual cases.”

Contact with Mr El-Astal’s family in Gaza is sporadic. After Israel ordered Gazans to evacuate the northern half of the strip last week, Ms Jendia and her children relocated to Deir al-Balah, where they are sheltering with family.

“I ask her all the time about the children, about the bombs, are they near,” Mr El-Astal said.

Further south, in Khan Younis, other members of his family – including his Irish-born brothers – wait, trapped.

“Everyone is waiting to die. That’s all they can do. No electricity, no water, nothing,” he said.

Mr El-Astal is fearful of what the days ahead hold. His closest friend, Rfaat Abu Shab, lost multiple members of his family during airstrikes on Khan Younis last week.

“All of his family was killed. His daughter and his son and his wife and his sister. All dead …The situation is something you can’t imagine,” Mr El-Astal said. “I am afraid he [will] harm himself.

[ Irish-Palestinian families to be separated at Gaza-Egypt border ]

“I really care about him, the same as my family, because he’s my brother, and his children, they are mine. I was crying all day… I never cried before.”

In his room in Riyadh, Mr El-Astal stored toys for Mr Abu Shab’s children, gifts he had hoped to take with him on his return to Gaza.

As airstrikes continue and an Israeli ground invasion looms, Mr El-Astal fears that his family could end up meeting the same fate.

“It’s just a story. One story. It’s the story of thousands of [Palestinian people],” he said. “The same could happen to my family.”

Another Palestinian-Irish man, Ibrahim Alagha, is currently stranded in Gaza with his wife Hamida and three young children, after they travelled to the enclave from Dublin in June.

Speaking to to RTÉ radio’s Drivetime, Mr Alagha spoke of his family’s struggles in finding food and water.

“[We’re] just hoping that things will settle down, or at least, me and my family could get some help as we are Irish citizens. Evacuate the Gaza Strip,” he said.

He said that he was in regular communication with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“I’m always getting updates about the evacuation plan, but unfortunately nothing is happening.

“We got a call ... last week, saying on Saturday that border was going to open. We took the risky journey to the border, which is around 20km away from where I live.

“We went there, just to get a call when we got there, that unfortunately, we had to turn back and go home urgently, as soon as possible, because they’re not going to open the border,” he said.